Maximum Ride 6
by kreader
Summary: After MAX, MR5 . May spoil the 5th book for some people. Fax. Eggy. I just want everyone to know I'll be re doing the story A.S.A.P , I am not completely happy with it. I'm glad everyone liked it still. I won't mark the story as complete, though.Thanks!
1. Intro

**Total is in it. He's, uh, just sad from being away from Akila.  
**

--

_I read over the corny script. __Again. "Fang, I'm not doing this. It's stupid," I said. Fang and I were walking down a beach in Florida, holding hands._

_"C'mon. You'll like rehearsals," Fang pushed. In the script, I was supposed to kiss him. It was an ad to prevent global warming, and I don't know how the writers incoperated _kissing_ with _global warming_._

_"Fang. No. This isn't like you. You'd want to keep our love private!" I complained. And that wasn't like me, because I don't complain._

--

"Max! Wake up!" groaned Gazzy. Iggy and Gazzy were poking and tapping me. Angel probably knew I was awake, but I was planning to stay in bed as long as I could.

"I'll get her," Fang said. Angel giggled, reading his mind. I heard Fang's quiet footsteps. He leaned down and kissed me, lifting me to my feet. Nudge and Angel giggled uncontrollably, holding Total who whined. Probably because he missed Akila, and seeing love hurt. Gazzy moaned and dragged Iggy into the kitchen.

He stopped kissing me and asked, "Awake?" I moaned and leaned against his shoulder. Fang's arms wrapped around my waist and rocked me back and forth soothingly. I would've fallen asleep again, but I had my leader duties to attend. I moaned again and went to the bathroom to have a hot shower.

When I came out, feeling refreshed and clean, I saw food on the table and rushed to it. Even though Fang, Iggy, and I are fourteen, Nudge is eleven, Gazzy is eight, and Angel is six, we eat a lot. Iggy-- even though he's blind-- is the cook in our flock. "Mmm," I said, sitting down. I stuffed eggs and sausages into my mouth. "Guys, we've gotta move. I wanna see my mom," I said. We'd been staying at a hotel in Hawaii for about three weeks, after my Mom had been kidnapped (long story), she went home to see Ella, my half sister, and we stayed here. We didn't have to pay a penny because of Angel, who has a billion helpful, freakish abilities. Speaking of abilities, we call ourleves 'the flock' because we're 98% humans and 2% bird. And we have wings.

Luckily, the freak-scientists at the School (the horrible, bad-smelling, place I grew up) gave us raptor vision, eyesight, and amazing strenght. Along with random skills. Angel has the most skills. She can read, and sometimes control, minds, breath underwater, talk to fish, and she can somewhat change her appearence. Gazzy can mimic someone perfectly, and his other skill I'd rather not mention. Nudge can attract metal, and hack and computer, and that's pretty much all she can do, unless you consider talking 24/7 an ability. Iggy can feel colours, and has incredibly sensitive fingers and ears, because he's blind. Fang can pretty much disappear if he stays still, and he has gills. I can fly at incredibly fast speeds, and I have gills like Angel and Fang. Total is out dog, and he talks. He has tiny wings which barely hold him up, and can jump so incredibly high. Iggy and Gazzy love to make explosives, and that has saved our butts multiple times.

"Okay, guys. Let's pack up," I said when we had all finished stuffing our faces. We packed our few belongings, and headed out the door. It was around noon, so we took off in the park, to have a lesser chance of people seeing our wings. Flying to where my mom lived would take about three hours, no breaks.


	2. Chapter 1

"My wings hurt," Total complained. It'd only been one and a half hours since we'd started flying. I opened my jacket and Total flew in, and I zipped my jacket back up.

"Wow, you're getting heavier!" I told Total as he wiggled around. "Hey, have you and Akila decided on a wedding day yet?" I asked. He and Akila had decided to get married while we were in Hawaii. But it was mostly his decision, because Akila can't talk. Total didn't answer, probably sleeping.

We flew for an hour and a half longer, then I saw my mom's little house. We landed smoothly, and Nudge got a thrill out of ringing the doorbell about a million times. "Max! Fang! Iggy! Total! Nudge! Gazzy! Angel!" Ella squealed, remembering not to say Total's name last. We hugged and said how much we missed eachother. I used to hate mushy emotion, but since I've found my mom and realized I love Fang, I don't mind it so much.

"Where's Mom?" I asked Ella as we walked into the kitchen, where she usually was.

"Grocery shopping," Ella said. "Hey, Max? Can I talk to you. Privately," she dragged me into her room. "I kinda want to ask Iggy out," she asked shyly. I was shocked. It'd be great to have somebody to really love, like I love Fang, but I couldn't think of what to say at the moment.

"Um," I began, "I don't know. Ask him out," I suggested, still shocked.

"How?!" Ella moaned, flopping onto her bed.

"Uh, I don't know. I can barely ask Fang out," I said. She nodded. I hadn't seen her since Hawaii, but I made phone calls often. We talked about girl stuff. Shoes, boys (Fang), the latest fashions, etc. She look really nervous, so I tried to support her- even though I'm really bad at it. "He likes you, too. Just ask him!"

"Oh, I don't know. What would I wear? How long are you staying? How much time do have to prepare? Where would we go?" She asked.

"Just go to some restaurant- he'd really like a place with colours! So he could feel 'em and stuff. And get him something, like... a Rubik's cube! He'd love that! But give it to him after the date, so he's not playing with it the whole time," I said, getting excited.

"Sure! Yes! Can you bring him over? Or maybe I should ask him later. Yeah, later would be better," Ella said. "Oh! And, I can wear the polka dotted shirt! And then, when he puts his arm around me, he'll feel polka dots!" she said, her eyes moving into another world.

"Sounds good," I said, smiling. I walked back to the kitchen, where my mom had come home. She was baking cookies-- my favourite thing in the whole world, and the smell was so good I nearly fainted.

"Mom!" I shouted, running towards her.

"Honey!" she shouted back, "oh, Max! I missed you so much!" She hugged and kissed me for the next five minutes and then she went back to baking the cookies. The rest of the flock was watching a documentary on birds on TV. I sat next to Fang, his arm wrapped around my waist. When the documentary finished, so were the cookies. We sat down at the table and chose a cookie. Ella had come out of Dreamland, so she joined us.

"Iggy, Max, Fang, I got you something, because you're the oldest," she said, walking to the storage room and pulling out three boxes. They were wrapped in black-and-white wrapping paper, but there was one that was polka dotted, probably Iggy's. She handed one to each of us, and Iggy was overjoyed when he touched the wrapping paper. We tore it open, to reveal a cell phone box. Fang and I gasped, and Iggy was still opening it carefully, so he wouldn't rip the wrapping paper.

"It's a cell phone, Iggy," Nudge said in awe when Iggy couldn't make out what it was. "I want one! I want one!" Nudge squealed. Nudge had always begged Jeb to get a cell phone back in the cave, when she was six.

We turned them on and played around a bit, Gazzy helping Iggy with things like reading the screen. Iggy, my mom's cell, Mom's house, and Fang's number were all ready added to the contact list. We played around until dinner was ready-- or arrived, since we had to order in. We ate greedily, since we were starving. We ate more cookies, then the younger kids went to bed. Iggy, Ella, Fang, and I sat on the couch, chatting about whatever.

"Hey, um, Iggy," Ella said, going all shy again, "do you wanna, like, um, go out, um, tomorrow for lunch or something?"

Iggy's face lit up. "Yeah! Sure," he said. They talked about where they wanted to go for dinner for half an hour, and then we decided to go to bed.

Before I shut the door of Ella's room, Fang kissed me goodnight and asked, "do you want to go out for a walk tomorrow?"

"Sure," I replied. We'd barely had any alone time, so I was eager to get some.


	3. Chapter 2

The next day, we had waffles, played with our phones some more and clicked on the TV. So many sad things had happened yesterday- an eight-year-old-boy and died in a car accident, global warming killed more people, and a jet had crashed with a rich woman and her twin daughters inside. We went through millions of boring channels, some in Chinese, French, or Spanish.

"Max, do you want to go out now?" Fang asked from behind me.

"Yeah, um, yeah," I said, making sure I had my cell in pocket. "Bye, Mom, I'll be back soon. Make sure they don't get out," I said, walking out the door.

When we left, Fang held my hand. We walked along a path that went through the forrest. Everything seemed so quiet. So peaceful, so... Romantic. We kept walking until we came to a large rock. Fang leaned against it, and opened his arms for me to come in. I leaned in and kissed him. His kisses were so dang _amazing, _so, well, I don't know. No words can explain it. He pulled away from my mouth and said very quietly, "I love you."

"I love you, too," I whispered back.

I heard Angel's giggle coming from behind the rock. "Angel?" I hissed. Nothing. "Angel, get out from behind that rock right now," I said, staying stern. She came out from the boulder. "Angel, why are you here?" I growled. Before she could answer, I whipped our my cell phone and dialed my mom's number.

"Hey, mom," I said angrily. "Is Angel with you?" I asked.

"Uh, yes, she is, actually," she said, perplexed. I was confused, too.

"I'll bring over the Angel we have here. Spying on us. You keep an eye on the Angel you have,' I said, hanging up. I didn't like being rude to my mom, but I was so mad at Angel for spying on us.

We arrived in minutes, and Angel seemed disappointed with herself for either getting caught or spying. My Mom was holding the other Angel's hand when we came in. "So now you can duplicate yourself?" I hissed.

"Yeah. It's pretty cool. I imagine where I want to be, and then I go there. And another me replaces me," she said innocently.

I rolled my eyes and said, "never. Ever. Do that again."

She nodded. "Okay," I confirmed.

"Do you want to go get some ice cream, Max?" Fang asked, taking my hand.

"Sure," I replied. Hopefully we'd be able to get some alone time then.


	4. Chapter 3

Surprisingly, he didn't take me to an ice cream shop, but a beach. We had to fly there, since it was a few kilometers away, and walking would just waste time. We still held hands, I flew over him, reaching down, and he reached up. We landed gracefully, as always. Fang's arm was now wrapped around my waist.

I couldn't believe Angel! Lately she'd been disobeying everyone, especially me. "Max?" Fang asked.

"Uh, yes? Yeah?" I said.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked, noticing I wasn't really paying attention.

"Oh, it's just that Angel isn't exactly listening to everyone," I sighed.

"Yeah. That needs to stop," he agreed. "But tight now, it's about you and me."

I nodded in agreement and we continued to walk down the beach. We stopped and watched the ocean. It may have not been the prettiest sight, the water wasn't as blue as Hawaii, but Fang made everything right for me. I turned to him from watching the ocean and kissed him. He kissed me back. This kiss seemed different from when we at the rock in the forrest. It seemed more... Happy. Like every second I was with him, he got happier. That's how it felt for me. He left my lips and said, "let's go back. You've got to help Ella with what she's wearing for her date tonight."

I shook my head. "I want to stay here!"

Fang smiled at me. "Of course."

I kissed him again, and he put his hand behind my head. _Oh, God. I love you, Fang._ _I_ _wish this night will never end__! _I thought.

Later, I pulled back and asked, "what time is it?"

Fang looked at his watch. "One." We'd been kissing for fifteen minutes! Teenagers are so strange. I grabbed his hand and started to run for a fast takeoff.

"We were supposed to be home at twelve forty five!" I shouted while we were flying. I cursed under my breath.

We landed at 1:10. I knocked on the door urgently. My Mom opened it. "Did they leave yet?" I asked.

"No. They were--" I didn't let my Mom finish her sentence. I rushed to Ella's room. She was pacing.

"Hey," I said.

She jumped and frowned at me. "I can't believe how late you are!" she hissed. "I don't know what bottoms go with my polka dotted top!" She dragged me to her wardrobe and threw three skirts and a pair of jeans on her bed.

"Just wear jeans," I said. She half sighed, have growled at me.

"This is a big thing for me!" she yelled.

"I'm sorry. We lost track of time, and--"

"It's okay. I'm just really nervous." She sighed and changed into the jeans and polka dotted shirt.

"Ready," she said, excited.

She walked past me. I flopped onto her bed. This was a good time to think. Why was Angel not listening to people? Who is going to try to kill us next? When would somebody try to kill us next? I didn't know how to answer those questions.

"Bye!" Ella and Iggy called as they left. Well, I hoped they had a good time.


	5. Chapter 4

Ella was really nervous about this first date, so was Iggy. They walked out the door, holding hands. He heard her footsteps and followed them down to a sidewalk. They walked down to a small breakfast place. "Hi, can I have a table for two?" Ella asked the man at the podium. He led them to a table near the window.  
They sat down quietly. Ella read the menu to Iggy. "There's a pancake platter. It's got two sausages, an egg, and three big pancakes."

"I'll have two of those," Iggy decided.

"Okay, I'll have the French toast," Ella said. She really didn't know what to talk about. They ordered and sat in an awkward silence, waiting for their food to come.

"What's your favourite colour?" Ella asked suddenly. Iggy looked up thoughtfully, scratching his chin.

"I don't know. I like every colour," he said. Ella sighed, thinking of what to say next.

"What colour do you like touching the most? Like, what object?" She asked.

Iggy sat thoughtfully again. "I like touching TVs, 'cause they have all those different colours that change a lot," he said.

Ella nodded, even though he couldn't see. "I like touching soft stuff," Ella said. She leaned over the table and touched his hair. "Soft."

Iggy blushed. He really liked Ella, and he was afraid of embarrassing himself.

The food arrived. "This food sucks!" Ella complained. She though it tasted like some sort of seewead or something.

"It's fine," Iggy disagreed. "Well. I shouldn't say that. I like anything." He smiled.

"How about we just walk back to your place," Iggy composed.

"Uh, yeah. Can we take a bit of a detour?" Ella asked.

Iggy nodded and they got up from the table. They paid the bill on left.

Ella took Iggy down a sideroad. She took his hand. Iggy's face turned red.

Ella found more colourful subjects to talk about. A few feet from the house, Ella stopped. She took Iggy's other hand and said, "stay still."

She leaned in slowly, but Iggy suddenly pulled away. "Sorry! Sorry!" he apologised. "I hear something over there!" He pointed to the west.

Ella ran into the house and got the rest of the flock. They got into fighting positions. "Ella! Mom! Stay inside! Somewhere with no windows!" Max shouted.

They obeyed. This seemed like it was going to be a bad fight.


	6. Chapter 5

"Iggy! North-West at two O' clock!" I shouted. I heard a quet buzzing noise. From inside, you could't hear a thing. A large black object buzzed forward quickly. It had heavy and shiny armour. Its eyes glowed red, blood red. An M242 Bushmaster was weilded to his arm. Uh-oh.

Four more smaller black figures approached. They came closer and closer and closer. "Nudge! Fang! Fight in the air!" I shouted. Nudge, Fang, and I flew towards the large robots. I looked back. Of course. Angel was there. "Angel!" I hissed. I kept flying forward. I would deal with her later.

Fang had already started beating up one of the guys. These weren't M-Geeks. Way more armed and intellegent. "Nothing's happening!" Fang shouted. I looked over to the 'bot he was bustin'. No dents, no nothing.

I was lost in the way he fought for a second. So gracefully. _Ow! _Something punched my in the neck. I gaped and went back to fighting. Three of the 'bots were on the ground. Gazzy shouted orders to Iggy, who kept missing the black robot.

"Uh, guys! Take cover! Duck!" Gazzy shouted to those in the air. We shot downwards, into the canopy. We ran fast into the heart of the forrest, spliting up. _Bam! Pow! _Iggy and Gazzy's bomb exploded with bright lights and loud noises. Iggy's chear was heard from a kilometer away. I raced back to the house.

My mom and Ella smiled grimly at us. They hugged us all. "Where's Fang?" my Mom asked when she had hugged all of us. I looked around.

"I'm gonna go look in the forrest some more," I said.

"One of me'll go, too," Angel said.

I nodded. "He was running that way," I said, pointing to the North. The only reason I let Angel come, or _one _of Angel come, was because I couldn't stand being away from him. His comfroting smile, his warm arms, his soft, soft lips.

Angel giggled. "Come on!"

The flock split up.

We returned back to the house at sevenish. We had searched forever. Around three hours.

I flopped into a seat at the table. This completely sucked. I dropped my head in my hands.

"What are we going to name those guys?" Angel asked, patting my back.

"I don't know, sweetie. Something horrible. Did you pick anything up from them?" I asked.

"Yeah. They don't want to kill us, but if they don't, they'll be killed. And they don't really actualy make movements themselves. Somebody controlls them. How about BBs? You know, like Black 'Bots?" She asked.

"Sure. Whatever," I said.

"Max, I know you miss Fang, but he'll come back. Don't worry."


	7. Chapter 6

That night, I stood in front of Ella's door, waiting for Fang to come kiss me godd night. _Oh, right. He's gone. _I thought sadly. I sighed and dragged my self over to my bed.

Total hopped up and sat at the end of my bed. "Love is a roller coaster, but I think yours is the scariest one of all," he said, lying down.

"You bet," I agreed. "When are you going to see Akila next?"

"I was thinking of flying over to her," he said, whining softly.

Next, Nudge came over. "You've been _really _quiet lately," I teased.

"Yeah. I'm just thinking... about stuff. And, I'm promising you, that we will get Fang back," She said.

"Thanks," I said and kissed her head. "Good night, sweetie."

"Good night!" I called to the others.

They all called good night back.

--

_Fang? Fang! What happened to him?! He looks horrible!_

_"Fang?" I asked weakly._

_"Max?" He croaked._

_His face was red from blood, and his shirt was ripped up. His eyes closed, and his head dropped. He was dead!_

_"No! Fang, Fang, Fang! No!" I sobbed._

--

I woke up and screamed at the top of my lungs. Total jumped and squealed. Ella moaned and rolled over.

"Max? Max? What happened? Are you okay?" My mom asked from down the hall.

"Bad, bad, bad dream," I said. "We've gotta find Fang! They'll kill him!"

And I burst in to tears. They were going to kill him. Unless we save him first.


	8. Chapter 7

Fang was tied up to a fence with large chain he couldn't get out of. Every time he struggled, the fence electrocuted him violently. "Max? Max? Come," he breathed. A man with a bloody nose walked over to him.

"You might want to get out of here," he said grimly. "The worst is yet to come."

Fang knew Max would come save him. The man was shoved by a tall, muscly woman with red hair. It was Brigid! She had the same face- but she had been genetically enhanced. "Brigid Dwyer?" Fang breathed slowly.

"What?" she growled. She saw Fang. "Fang? Get out of here!" she whispered.

Fang looked at her in disbelief. "Right," she said. She took out a pair of extremely sharp-looking scissors and snapped through the chains.

Pain shot through Fang's body-- the chains were rigged so that if somebody tried to cut them, they would electrocute him. He screamed. Brigid tried to pull him to his feet, but he couldn't think and collapsed again onto the fence, which hurt more than any pain Fang had ever experienced. His wings felt warm with blood, and he tried not to think about how much damage it would cause. For all he knew, it would leave scars.

Brigid pulled him up, but he was out cold. She dragged him to the closest closet and lay him down. A bucket of dirty mop water would do for Brigid- this was and emergency. She splashed it over Fangs face. Nothing. Fang's breathing slowed, then sped up, then, he hit the floor like he was having a bad nightmare. His eyes flickered open. "Come on- I have to get you to a hospital. No-- that wouldn't work. Uh," Brigid though for a few seconds. "I'll just go sneak some medical stuff."

She left the room for a few minutes, then came back. She had hurried, so she only got some water, bandages, and anti-burn cream she's found behind the other drugs. She rubbed the lotion on Fang's wings and back and wrapped them up with the bandage, pouring water into his mouth every now and then. "You're leaving tomorrow. Rest for now. No one ever comes in here," Brigid told him. She left the room to go do her job.

Fang felt better, but he still felt like crap- and missed Max. She was going to come. He just needed to wait.


	9. Chapter 8

I was still crying as I got dressed. This was completely hopeless. "It's not hopeless, Max," Angel said from behind me, making me jump. "You didn't give up when the whitecoats took me." Oh, yeah. That seamed like a lifetime ago.

"I could go get him," Angel said thoughtfully.

"How?" I asked. Oh, yeah. "You can, like, transport there, huh? But you don't even know where he is."

"I didn't know where you were, either," she said innocently. "I just imagined I was with you."

I shrugged. "Okay."

Hopefully this worked. I old everybody else the plan. "Angel!" Total complained when he heard she was going. "If you go, nobody will be here to... to... to let me vent to."

Angel explained that she would still be there, just with Fang, too. "And you can vent to Max, too," she said, smiling at me.

"Iggy, Gazzy, you've been... quiet lately. What kind of a bomb did you make _now?" _I asked them, raising my eyebrow.

"None, actually," Iggy said, smiling. Yeah, right.

My phone began to vibrate- a text message. I looked at the screen. It was from Fang! I read it slowly.

_Max come some evil place. soon please love you_

I began to cry again. This sucked. "Angel," I said between sobs. "Go. Now."

She nodded and closed her eyes in concentration. Then she opened her eyes- wide. She walked around like she was there. I get it- whatever she did there, she did here. "It's okay, Fang," she said, kneeling.

_Come on, come on. _I thought, crossing my fingers and praying quietly. If this didn't work-- if Angel got caught-- then we were toast.


	10. Chapter 9

Angel lifted Fang slowly. All he could think was, _It's the end. It's all over. I'm gonna die. And never see Max again.  
_

Angel disagreed. "Fang! Stop thinking that! If you ever want to see Max again, then you're gonna want to think differently!"

She knew Max could hear what saying, and she would not approve of Fang giving up, even though she seemed to be giving up, too. She helped him walk down a long hallway, with a tall, black door at the end. They slowly approached it.

"Dang! You need a code," Angel said, looking at Fang sadly. She typed 123 and 135. They didn't work.

"Try... 370," Fang whispered, squinting slightly.

Angel shrugged and hit the buttons. The door popped open. "Good. How'd you know?" Angel asked. Fang shrugged. She crept out the door, with Fang leaning against her. She flipped out Fang's phone. "Does this thing have a GPS?" she asked. Fang nodded. She typed in Dr. Martinez's address, and it showed her a path. Angel felt tugging on something. It felt like... her soul? She tried to pull herself away from it, but it tugged harder, and harder, and harder until she couldn't pull away any longer. She let the force take her, and she felt weak, but she gripped Fang's shirt.

"Angel?" someone said in Max's voice. Maybe... Maybe it _was _Max!

"Max?" she asked, opening her eyes slowly. Max was waiting in front of her, her eyes worried. Angel sat up. "Fang? Fang?" she asked.

"Shhh, shhh, Mom's just checking him out," Max said, cradling Angel. "You brought him back." She kissed her head. "I'm going to go see him. Nudge, put Ange in bed."

Nudge took Angel to her bed. Total yapped and jumped up beside her. "Night, Ange," she said. Angel just hoped Fang would be okay. She had a strong feeling about something, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She didn't want to think about it now. All she wanted to do was sleep.


	11. Chapter 10

Fang's back! But, he's not okay. He looked horrible. I wandered over to him after sending Angel to bed. "What's up? Is Fang gonna be okay?" I asked, trying not to seem too worried. Truth was, I was so afraid of losing Fang. I hurried over to him and cradled his face in my hands. "Be okay.... please? Be okay. I need you." I leaned in and kissed him. He kissed be back.

"Ouch," he said against my lips. I pulled away.

"Sorry," I murmered, holding his hand.

"He'll be fine. He just needs to rest for about a month," Mom said.

My jaw dropped. "It's not safe for us to be in the same place for such a long time. And, plus, I wouldn't want to get you hurt."

Fang looked at me. "Kiss me," he murmered. I didn't know what to do. "Don't make me sit up. Please?"

I shrugged and leaned in. He kissed my back, and his arms slowly wound around my neck. I tangled my hands into his hair.

"Ugh," Gazzy said, walking backwards out of the room. I pulled back and laughed.

"He just needs a lot of love," my mom nudged my back with her knee. "I'm sure you and the flock can give him that. And some medicines, special pills that will make sure he doesn't get diseases or infetions. He's got third degree burns, and bad scratches."

I nodded and looked back at Fang's beautiful, broken face. "Rest," I said, smiling weakly.

"Stay. I need you to stay," he said, putting his hand on my waist and pulling me towards him. I just nodded.

"I don't know what I'd do without you," I said, sitting down again.

"I'll leave you two alone," my mom siad, closing the door behind her. I needed to use this time wisely, since I didn't know if Fang would survive. I just hoped and prayed he did.


	12. Chapter 11

It's been two weeks since Fang's returned from the hellohole. He could walk around, extend his wings a little bit. I was surprised he wasn't in more pain. He explained to us what they'd done to him, electrocuted him, and I wasn't happy. My next goal was to destroy whoever did this to him. I was sure he was going to survive, but he still wanted me sleeping in his room with him. I was getting more and more worried about my mom's safety.

"Mom? I really think you should go. It's not safe for you here," I said sitting next to Fang as my mom slowly unbandaged Fang's back and wings.

"Yes, Max, I heard you the first fifteen times," she said, smiling at me. "That's why I rented an apartment downtown. I'll teall you where it is, but you are _never, ever _coming to it. You can't call us, we won't call you, and we'll be here during the day, but when we come, we'll take a secretive route." She put a finger to her mouth and smiled at me. I smiled back, relieved. She bandaged Fang's body up again.

We walked to the living room, where the kids were eating chocolate chip cookies, my favourite food in the whole wide world. Ella was smiling, watching Gazzy imitate her, holding Iggy's hand. She saw me walk into the room and sit down with Fang, and held up her hand to signal Gazzy to stop. "Hey, guys! I was wondering if you two would like to join Iggy and I at my prom. It's in a week, and I want you to join us. Fang would probably be healthy," she smiled at us, somewhat revealing Nudge's Bambi eyes. Was Nudge teaching people how to do that now? Oh, boy.

"Yeah, and, plus, if one of those black things-- Can we call them bullets? Okay, so if a Bullet Bot-- Yeah, Bullet Bot! Oooh, let's call them BBs. Okay. If BBs attack, then I can't fight him _alone. _I'd at least have to have one person to help. Fang could, like, hide under a table or something," Iggy added, seeming a little hyper.

I looked at Fang, trying to do Nudge's Bambi eyes. Nudge snickered behind me, seeing my failing attempt. "I think it'd be great! Ooooh! I could help Max pick out a dress! That'd be so fun! Can I get a dress, too?" Nudge asked, her eyes widening with every word. That was the most I'd heard her say in weeks. "Oh, and, Max, we could get shoes! I know how much you love shoes!"

My face lit up, and my mom looked at me, smiling. "I think it's a fabulous idea! I could take Iggy and Fang to buy tuxedos." I heard Gazzy snicker behind Mom. "And Ella and Max could just walk downtown. The younger kids can go with whoever they want." Nudge, Angel, and Total raced over to where Ella and I were standing, talking about what we wanted out dresses to look like. Gazzy stayed sitting.

"Gazzy, come with us," Angel said, smiling.

Gazzy face became blank and passive as he said, "Okay, I think I'll go with you."

All eight faces turned to Angel, and she smiled angelically. I sighed and looked Fang, and he didn't look amused. "Ange? Can Max and I talk to ya?" Fang asked, holding out his hand out for Angel to hold. She took it, not smiling anymore. I followed them into my mum's office. Fang closed the door behind us. Okay. All this Angel-doing-what-she-wants-yo-do-withouth-permission stuff was going to end. Right _now._


	13. Chapter 12

Fang looked at Angel and then me. He looked at Angel again and said, "What do you think you're doing?" Angel looked at her feet. "Why do you thing you can just walk around and do whatever you want, do whatever you want to people? It's not right!"

Fang looked at me to continue, so I knelt down to Angel's level. "He's right. Why do you keep doing that? It's not safe. It's not smart. And, it shows you do not respect everybody else around you. Especially those older than you." I stared at her, and she nodded.

"I'm... I'm sorry. I didn't know it bugged you," she said looking up innocently. Which, if you knew Angel meant she wasn't done with mischievousness.

"Angel, we're being serious. If you do something else we ask you not to do, or something dangerous or stupid or mean, there will be consequences," Fang said, his voice rising slightly. Angel nodded.

I opened the door, and we all walked to the living room, where everyone was waiting. I sat on the couch, and Angel clambered onto my lap. I stroked her hair gently.

"When are we going prom-shopping?" Nudge asked excitedly. I sighed.

"How about I take the boys tomorrow, and the girls the day after. It might take a little longer for Ell and Max," my mom said, smiling. "The night of the prom, the kids who aren't going can choose to do whatever they want. How about we watch a movie?" Total yipped in excitement, and the three younger kids wooped happily. "Well, Ella and I better go set up the condo. We'll be back in time for cooking you guys dinner."

We waved them good bye, then popped some popcorn and watched _The Golden Compass. _I never realized, but my mum's couch could fit all of us, even when we extended out wings a little. It gave me an idea: "Hey! Why don't we sleep here tonight? We could fold out the couch. We all fit perfectly," I asked.

"Wow, Max! That's a great idea!" Nudge said excitedly. "Wait, will I have to sleep on the ground? Y'know, since I kick a lot?" I sighed and nodded sadly.

"That's okay! I'll sleep next to you!" Angel said.

Fang looked at me. "Great idea. You're so smart," he said kissing my cheek. I did find a hint of sarcasm in his words, but I ignored it and smiled at him. It was a good idea. Anything for my happy flock of mutant kids and dog!


End file.
